


The Damage Has Been Done

by Gemfyre



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman (Movies - Nolan)
Genre: Alternate Reality, Gen, Maiming, teen nudity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-08
Updated: 2013-05-08
Packaged: 2017-12-10 18:30:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/788876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gemfyre/pseuds/Gemfyre
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Joker has escaped Arkham once again and the Commissioners daughter has gone missing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Damage Has Been Done

They didn’t even know The Joker had escaped yet again before Babs Gordon was spirited away and James was frantic. They had all put two and two together but it took a long, painful, three days before a videotape arrived early in the morning. Gordon had been woken by the phone call and rushed in to work, to be greeted by the solemn faces of his colleagues.

“I don’t know if you want to watch this boss…” They’d seen a lot, but he could tell by the tone of the voice and the apologetic look in their eyes that this was bad, very bad.

*****

The light faded in on tape to reveal the girl, naked in a white tiled room, chained to a wall by the wrists and ankles. She looked up worriedly at the advancing light and footsteps could be heard, as the image wavered, the walker was holding the camera. Eventually the camera was placed on a table in the room and The Joker appeared.

“Why look at you, aren’t you a prize?” He tousled her blonde hair and she cowered under his touch, flinching as he ran the hand down the side of her face, over her shoulder, across the side of one blossoming breast, down her flank and over the hip, to pause at the top of her strong, dancer’s thighs.

“You’re a dancer aren’t you?” She nodded, terrified. “What dance do you do?” He now ran both hands down the legs, grasping her feet, then looking back up at her face. “Answer me Barbara.”

“B… ballet.”

“Ballet!! I love ballet! The strength and dedication required. You’re dedicated aren’t you Barbara. I must admit I actually know. You just got accepted into some hoity toity dance school eh?” She nodded, sobbing, some tears had pooled and quivered on her chin. He brought his face close to hers and she squeezed her eyes tight shut as he licked away the droplet.

“It’s alright, we’ll fix that.”

*****

He then left the screen for a couple of minutes. And back at HQ James Gordon tore at his hair. What had he done to her? What was he going to do? He didn’t have to wait long to find out.

The Joker returned to the image, this time dragging a sledgehammer and James was sure he was going to throw up.

*****

The Joker ducked down, to look directly at the camera and waved.

“Commissioner Gordon, how much money have you spent on this hobby of hers? These legs?” He scratched his chin, as if deep in thought. “I’m not so sure if it was money well spent.” And with that he brought the sledgehammer down, snapping the right femur, and Barbara screamed. The gloved hand entwined in her hair again and pulled her head back, to face up at him. Her terror was palpable and he licked his lips, enjoying every second. No, this was something beyond terror. He saw a crack of heartbreak and hopelessness as she realised that she’d never dance again. “Have you ever watched the horseraces? When a poor thoroughbred snaps its leg they put it down, unless it’s worth A LOT of money, then they sometimes try to fix it up, but it’s usually money wasted. Do you think they’ll spend the money on you Barbara?” The sledgehammer came down again, this time shattering left tibia and fibula. Down and down again, The Joker not even aware that his victim had by now passed out and was lying limp on the floor. This was too much fun for him to care too much about the fact that there was no music of screams for accompaniment. Patellas broke and shifted out of place as tendons snapped, tarsi almost ground to powder. Blood flowed and bruises bloomed violet and eventually he stopped and regarded the camera again.

“Don’t worry too much. I’ll keep her on tranquilisers and painkillers until you find her… if I’m feeling nice.” That laugh again, finding humour in such terrible things.

*****

It took them three long weeks to find her. So long in fact that The Joker had started sending taunting clues as to her whereabouts. She was located in a cellar of a house ringed in hurricane wire fencing, labelled as condemned and unsafe – the signage seemed only too appropriate. The room below ground was well maintained, and, they noted, heated. At least she hadn’t been cold. And somebody must have fed her, and cleaned up any mess she made. She was rescued in a fog of drugs and taken to the hospital, where they now had to worry about withdrawals from the painkillers before even considering her ruined legs. Maybe, just maybe, if they’d found her soon enough a good doctor would have been able to reset the bones properly, and after a lot of rehab and physio, maybe she’d walk again. But after 3 weeks bones had started to knit together again in all the wrong ways, and the damage had been done. Even if rebreaking to reset them had been a genuine option, Gordon wouldn’t allow it for fear of putting her through the trauma all over again. But as she got over her dependency on the drugs, and her mind cleared, she’d cry for hours and hours, mourning her lost legs and punching the twisted things that remained.

The damage had been done.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this not long after seeing The Dark Knight, getting into Batman fandom, and only having read a little bit about Babs.  
> This was part of a much bigger world and storyline I created in my head. In this timeline Babs never gets the chance to be Batgirl before the Joker cripples her. And his method of doing so is a lot more visceral.
> 
> I may edit or re-write this at some stage.


End file.
